


What can convince you?

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Fluff, slipping in bio facts so that maybe I can study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 08:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20904710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Emma needs to study, she’s pretty convinced nothing can take her away from her books until Paul gives it a shot





	What can convince you?

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was dragged away which is definitely a bit violent but I was like hmmmmmm date night this prompt thing is beating me up I have two mock exams on Monday & im doing THIS bc I have the least impulse control you’ll ever see in a person

Emma patted out a drum beat with her hands on top of her text books, trying to entice herself into studying.

“Biology, Biology, come on.” She placed one hand over her textbook but couldn’t even bring her fingers to open it. 

Usually she was enthusiastic, or at least motivated to study.

“Come on, come on,” it was like she was waiting for the motivation to come to her. But this next text wasn’t being marked. It was only a hurdle task. “And y’know. What’s the point of doing it if it isn’t to please someone?” She rolled her eyes at her own words before letting her head fall into her books with a groan.

Studying had beat her. She wasn’t winning this fight. 

“Come on. Let’s talk about some chemical agents, Emma,” she tried to convince herself by forcing her hand to open up her textbook despite the feeling of dread and boredom that washed over her as she did so. 

‘A holoenzyme is a biochemically active compound formed by the combination of an enzyme with a coenzyme’ the book said. 

“I’ve never heard the word holoenzyme before in my life,” Emma retorted.

“Wow, me neither,” Paul huffed as he strode into the kitchen, dropping his briefcase down on the table. “Studying?” 

“Trying to. It’s like three chapters shoved together. We have to memorise all this shit about evolution and all the periods and the land changing and everything but I’m looking at my notes and they’re all awful but I can’t be fucked to relearn it.” She slapped her textbook shut to rest her head on it. “Look.” She jabbed a finger at her notes. “Devonian period - fish getting complicated. Carboniferous period - everything is big. Like, ugh!” She put a hand to her forehead. “Was I a dumbass? Not a single date!”

“Google it,” Paul advised. 

“This just says ‘Pangea, hell yeah’ as if that’ll help me!” She shut her notebook in defeat. “I was a dinosaur kid growing up. Fucking loved the little guys. I had this triceratops toy that I used to take absolutely everywhere with me.” She made a face at her books. “So, not a successful study session. Hoping my DNA denatures before the test.” 

“Don’t know what that word means but let’s not have this negative talk Em! Come give me a hug.” He shrugged off his suit coat to hang it up on the hook. He sounded like he was in an especially good mood tonight.

She got up without needing to be told twice, dragging her feet towards him. 

He pulled her in before she was in proper distance, her head bumping into his chest as he drew her in with a chuckle. 

“You should stop studying for tonight if you can’t be bothered,” he suggested.

“No, I can’t. The test is next week.” She gave her head a shake and looked up at him as if to show off the bags under her eyes. “There’s this new trick right? So get this. Adrenaline helps you remember shit, scientists don’t know why but produces all this fuel for your brain to run off. That’s why you remember scary memories and all that, but get this.” She squinted and leaned in as if she held the secret to the universe in her hands. “I’m gonna dump my hand right in a bucket of ice. That’ll get my fight or flight response running for sure. Then I’ll study.” 

“Babe,” Paul secured his grip on her.  
“Don’t go doing that. Just give it a break!” He tried, squeezing her in a tighter hug. 

“I’m not hearing it. I’ve gotta.” She tried to release herself from the hug but he grabbed one hand and spun her around. 

“Really?” He gave a hopeful smile. “Do you really have to study? Don’t have time for a quick dance?” He spun her around again and she laughed. 

“A dance? What’s this, prom?” She joked, holding out an arm to steady herself, passing it off as a mock bow. 

Paul chuckled, pulling her back in and placing a hand on her hips, moving in some sort of lazy tango. “I’m just tired after work you know? I like to give my girlfriend a little bit of love.”

She rolled her eyes at him, trying to follow his pace. “You’re crazy tonight man.”

“Not as crazy as your ice bucket thing,” he shrugged, looking away innocently. 

Emma’s jaw dropped before giggling. “Hey! There’s scientific evidence behind it!” She purposely stepped the wrong way and his hands fell from her hips. “And I’ve got to study. No ice bucket, fine. But can you repeat after me? The primary lymphoid organs are the Bone marrow and the Thymus.”

“Thymus?” Paul blinked. “The bone marrow and the thymus. Why?” 

“Helps me remember things when it’s in your voice. I don’t suppose you’d read this whole textbook for me would you?” 

He snickered at her and came over to stop her before she could sit down. “Sorry to drag you away from your work babe.”

“Not sorry enough apparently,” she side stepped to try and get to her seat but he blocked her again. 

“You’ll thank me in the end. You don’t look like you want to study at all.”

“I don’t. But I have to. I have a test next week and I don’t get it.”

“Next week! Exactly!” He took her under the arms to rest his head on her shoulder with a bothered groan. “You don’t have to study tonight babe! I can explain it to you but I can’t understand it for you.” 

Emma pressed her head into his shoulder as well. “I’m not a last minute studier anymore! Let me at my stuff!” She tried to walk off but he placed his hands firmly on both her shoulders so she couldn’t walk forward, only awkwardly shuffle as her feet slipped on the wooden floorboards. 

“So I cant do anything to convince you to give it a break tonight?” He tried. 

She shook her head. “Look if it bothers you that much I’ll only do one chapter. How’s that sound?” 

“Not good enough.” He shook his head and crossed his arms. “No more studying that’s an order.”

Emma shivered at his boldness, her eyes widening with an unsure chuckle. “An order? Hah, as in?”

His nose scrunched up and he swooped I’m again to hug her, tucking his head behind hers to avoid looking at her. “I am so confused and concerned about how flustered that made you. I don’t mean it like that! I just mean give it a rest. You’re tired and you can’t be bothered with it. That’s the fastest way to give up entirely.” 

“Babe,” she moaned, pushing against him. “I know. But I’m a student and that’s just the shit you gotta do. I know your days of homework and tests are long gone but I’m in the magical world of community college and the person marking my tests is my best friend who I can’t disappoint.”

Paul shook Emma playfully. “So I can’t convince you? I can’t hypothetically drag you away from your work with a hypothetical date I’ve hypothetically already planned?” 

She raised one eyebrow, stepping back and crossing her arms with a stern glare. “Okay, I’ll bite, what hypothetical date have you planned?”

“So I might’ve maybe borrowed a friend’s ute and I might have bought your favourite food and I might have already packed the car.”

Emma’s eyes darted to the front window and for the first time she noticed the sound of an engine still rumbling. “Go on.”

“So you’re one hundred thousand percent sure you won’t step away from studying for one evening to drive up into the mountains to lay in the back of the car to look up at the stars?” 

Emma’s jaw dropped and her heart skipped a beat. She weighed out the pros and cons of studying but the calculation didn’t even last a second. “A stargazing date?” 

He nodded, a puppy-like grin crossing his whole face when he knew he’d convince her. He did an excited little trot where he stood as if he was rearing to go.

“In the mountains?”

“I may or may not have been planning this for a week. It’s a clear sky and a full moon tonight,” he swayed side to side in a happy little dance. “And I know you love a bit of mountain climbing.” She didn’t think it was possible for his smile to grow any wider. “Sold?”

“Babe I’m so fucking sold!” She balled her hands into fists, a wild, excited smile plastered on her face. She turned to the door and then to the bedroom, unsure where she was supposed to go first.

“Go get changed!” He confirmed for her. “It’ll be cold! Get a jacket!”

“Got it! Give me one minute!” She was so excited she didn’t even seem to make the first step towards the door, jumping once instead before she could bolt off. 

Tonight, studying had beat her. But she didn’t mind losing all that much.


End file.
